At Tidal Wave Total Fitness we are continually changing and growing.
Yoga with Maddy Honen-Houy
New Yoga for Saturday mornings, at 10:30 am.
Tuesday 6.30 pm and Sundays at 10:30 am.
This weeks topic:
Benefits of Yoga!
You can never underestimate the health benefits of exercising and continued learning should also be part of your everyday lives, improving your mind, as well as your body.
I would like to share this with you, so that you can come and join in the classes and see for yourself the health and fitness benefits you will get.
Some of the physical benefits are:
- Improves your flexibilityImproved flexibility is one of the first and most obvious benefits of yoga. During your first class, you probably won’t be able to touch your toes, never mind do a back-bend. But if you stick with it, you’ll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible. You may also notice that aches and pains start to disappear. That’s no coincidence. Tight hips can strain the knee joint due to improper alignment of the thigh and shinbones. Tight hamstrings can lead to a flattening of the lumbar spine, which can cause back pain. Inflexibility in muscles and connective tissue, such as fascia and ligaments, can cause poor posture.
- Building muscle strengthStrong muscles not only look good, they also protect us from conditions like arthritis and back pain, and help prevent falls in elderly people. And when you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility.
- Aligns your posture
Your head is like a bowling ball—big, round, and heavy. When it’s balanced directly over an erect spine, it takes much less work for your neck and back muscles to support it. Move it several inches forward, however, and you start to strain those muscles. Hold up that forward-leaning bowling ball for eight or 12 hours a day and it’s no wonder you’re tired. And fatigue might not be your only problem. Poor posture can cause back, neck, and other muscle and joint problems. As you slump, your body may compensate by flattening the normal inward curves in your neck and lower back. This can cause pain and degenerative arthritis of the spine.
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Protects your spine
Spinal disks—the shock absorbers between the vertebrae that can become herniated and compress nerves—crave movement. That’s the only way they get their nutrients. If you’ve got a well-balanced asana practice with plenty of back-bends, forward bends, and twists, you’ll help keep your disks supple.
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Drains your lymph’s and boosts immunity
When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.
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Relaxes your system
Yoga encourages you to relax, slow your breath, and focus on the present, shifting the balance from the sympathetic nervous system (or the fight-or-flight response) to the parasympathetic nervous system. The latter is calming and restorative; it lowers breathing and heart rates, decreases blood pressure, and increases blood flow to the intestines and reproductive organs—comprising what Herbert Benson, M.D., calls the relaxation response.
There area many more benefits that go hand in hand with exercise, to many to list. keep your body moving and the benefits will follow.
If you would like to book in and discuss these with us give us a call or send a message and we will make a convenient time for us to do that with you.